Human beings have always been in the habit of collecting, and it?s no different for cars and trucks. Just like all other hobbies and collectibles, external factors like culture, societal trends, and age demographics have an impact on the way we collect cars; and even which ones are most sought-after. Currently, the hobby is undergoing some interesting changes as new technologies infringe on old-school designs and a new generation of car lovers enter the hobby to make their desires known.
Let’s examine five trends that show how the collector car hobby is shifting gears.
Early Days & The Sustained Impact of Baby Boomers
While the first cars were introduced around the start of the 20th century, it only took a few decades for the earliest collectors to form the Antique Automobile Club of America in 1935. In the years that followed, as the hobby came of age, collectors were primarily interested in ?Pre-War? era cars, or those from before 1945. Some of the most popular included the Ford Model T and Model A, and any Packard or Pierce-Arrow (if they could afford them!). As baby boomer hobbyists (those born roughly between 1946 and 1964) got older, we started to see one of the first major demographic shifts have its impact on collecting. For this group, the cars of the ?50s and ?60s caught their eye. Cars like the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1965 Ford Mustang were ?instant classics.? They were popular when new, popular as used cars, and popular as collector cars by those wh...